[Cryptocurrency advocates slam the cancellation of digital asset proposals in the 2024 US defense bill: "a missed opportunity"]
Two cryptocurrency regulatory proposals that would have aimed to regulate money laundering and scrutinize financial institutions were not included in the latest U.S. defense bill.
Under the National Defense Authorization Act recently unveiled by U.S. lawmakers, encryption provisions that originally sought to establish reporting on the use of privacy coins and create anti-money laundering measures among virtual currency service providers have been excluded.
The U.S. government is obliged to pass this bill, which was jointly developed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. While the Senate's version of the NDAA included both encryption provisions, they were not included in the final House draft.
The Chamber of Digital Commerce, a trade association dedicated to advancing the blockchain and crypto industry, regretted the decision, calling it a "missed opportunity."
The Senate amendment included a provision requiring the Treasury Secretary to establish a comprehensive review and evaluation system for financial institutions. The system is designed to assess the adequacy of crypto-assets’ reporting obligations under money laundering rules and ensure that companies comply.
After the proposed rule was rejected, it may mean that cryptocurrencies will not receive a clear regulatory model in the US market.
U.S. lawmakers have been calling on President Joe Biden to enact laws to limit the use of virtual currencies in terrorism. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, and Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, recently introduced legislation aimed at imposing penalties on financial institutions that use cryptocurrencies to support terrorist groups. sanctions.
The bill proposes to ban or impose severe penalties on companies and institutions involved in financing terrorism, and requires the president to prohibit financial institutions from transactions using digital assets with entities prohibited under the law.
The bill proposals appear to be based on reports that Hamas has received more than $90 million in cryptocurrency from its supporters. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Although blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has refuted these claims, U.S. lawmakers are actively pushing for the Terrorist Financing Prevention Act of 2023 to combat terrorist financing through sanctions.
